16 CBI officers charged with corruption in last 3 years: Govt

Sixteen officers of CBI, the country's premier agency investigating graft cases, have been charged with corruption in the past three years, Lok Sabha was informed today.

The agency is facing criticism for providing information on allegations of corruption, in-house or cases probed by it, even though it is under statutory obligation to provide such records under the RTI Act despite being in the list of exempted organisations.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said, "Of the 16 officers against whom cases were registered, seven have been charge-sheeted along with disciplinary action as a result of which, one of them was dismissed, the second one was removed from service and another demoted or reduced to lower level of hierarchy."

He said of the remaining nine cases, investigation is in process against five officers. In the rest four, closure report was filed after ordering dismissal of one officer, compulsory retirement of another and two cases are still being pursued in the court.

"All appointments of level of Superintendent of Police and above in CBI are, accordingly, made on the basis of recommendations made by a committee headed by Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) as provided under Section 4(c) read with Section 4(a) of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946," he said.

The Minister said the government is committed to uphold the independence of CBI and the Director of CBI enjoys a secure term of minimum two years.

"In order to ensure further transparency and impartiality in the appointment of CBI Director, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act provides for appointment of Director on the recommendation of a committee consisting of Prime Minister as Chairperson and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Chief Justice of India as the Members," he said.